Samuelsen is battling to organize JetBlue flight attendants.

(Seth Wenig/AP)

“We are investing huge amounts of resources into JetBlue, it’s top of our list,” he said. “I have my own way of doing things, and we’re going to bring that style to the national union, and we’re going after the nearly 5,000 unorganized JetBlue flight attendants who have no union working for them.”

JetBlue’s management has not been welcoming to the Transport Workers. It began distributing flyers and emailing staffers with its own messaging — namely, that inviting in a “third-party” union was a bad idea.

“TWU is an opportunistic and negative third party,” the airline wrote to inflight crew in a recent “Note from John,” a message from Vice President John Culp.

The flyer blamed Transport Workers Union “corporate strategists” in D.C. for stirring up drama and said the TWU’s leaders have a history of “criminal behavior” and labor violations.

“Keep in mind that a card is a legal document that you can’t take back: If you sign one today and change your mind tomorrow, you can’t get it back. You do not need to sign a card to participate in a union election,” the “Note from John” said.

“Expect to hear lots of empty promises from the TWU,” it added, and warned that TWU union members are “known to harass” and use “extremely aggressive tactics.”

Samuelsen said the negative messaging from management was a sign his campaign was gaining ground.

Workers congratulate Samuelsen after a landslide vote in his favor Tuesday.

(Pete Donohue)

“We don’t organize from the top down — this whole drive is from the ground up. We’ve met with various organizing committees in JetBlue, and the JetBlue workers are doing a really good job of standing up for themselves,” he said.